Former Columbia city councilman free from prison

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former Columbia city councilman is back home after serving nine months in federal prison for tax evasion.

The State newspaper reports (http://bit.ly/uFwAw2 ) that E.W. Cromartie was released from prison to home detention last Friday.

Columbia's longest serving city councilman was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty last year to one count of tax evasion and two counts of structuring bank deposits to avoid federal income reporting requirements.

Federal sentencing guidelines allowed him to be released after serving most of his sentence, which began Jan. 28.

Cromartie's lawyer, I.S. Leevy Johnson, says the former city councilman taught English to his fellow prisoners while incarcerated.